


I'm the Dagger in Your Back

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Meet-Cute, Pre-Relationship, Supervillains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 16:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20176951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: For someone who makes a big deal out of being a super-villain's henchman, Caleb doesn't act very evil. That's what Jester thinks at least.





	I'm the Dagger in Your Back

**Author's Note:**

> More superheroes!!! Look if you leave me to my own devices for too long, I just end up writing about superpowers and stuff. But this time it's super-villains!
> 
> The title comes from "When You're Evil" by Voltaire.

It was not a good day for Jester. She missed her bus to work and forgot her wallet and her lunch at home. The worst part of the day though had to be when she got kidnapped by a super-villain. Jester sighed. It was incredibly boring being a captive of a super-villain. She had thought that it would be all dramatic and flashy and scary, but in a good way. Instead she was in what was basically a giant glass tube staring at a very uninteresting lab. There wasn't any computers or anything, just a small chemistry set and a little couch. It looked like this room originally was made with an entirely different purpose in mind.

The Archmage was the greatest villain in all of the empire, so really, you'd think he'd have better taste. Jester had thoughts and opinions on how a villain's lair should look, and it definitely wasn't this. She sighed and sat down. Stretching out her hand she tried to freeze the glass again only for nothing to happen. There was something there that was canceling her powers. Not that Jester's powers were very strong. They weren't enough to become a superhero. That used to be a dream of hers, but it turned out that she just didn't have it in her to be great or powerful.

The door opened up and Jester got up quickly. She was preparing herself to face her captor face to face only to see someone else completely different. A red headed man wearing drab brown clothes and a plain black domino came in. He carried a tray of something and approached Jester's cage. A smile slick and smooth was on his face. "Ready for dinner?" he asked. His accent placed him as being Zemnian.

"No. I'm ready for answers," Jester said, but her growling stomach contradicted her.

He chuckled and placed a hand on the glass. "You are, are you? I'm sorry, but all I have for you right now is dinner."

Jester stared at the tray he was holding. It looked like just a microwave dinner, but looks could be deceiving. "Is it poisoned?"

"If we were going to poison you, I wouldn't be the one bringing you dinner," he said. "It's nothing fancy, but it won't kill you." He smirked and oh, he was handsome. Not in a celebrity superstar sort of way, but more like a quiet everyday sort of handsome. But he knew it. There was a cockiness to his smile.

"Look, I don't know what you expect from me, but you're not going to get it. There's nothing special about me, and there's better ways to get money than trying to ransom me," Jester said.

Another smirk. "That's for us to decide, I think. Now, if you'll stand back." He closed his eyes and a hole the exact size of the tray and food appeared in the glass. As he started to push the tray through the hole, his hand began to shake. The tray was half way through when the hole snapped closed cutting the tray in two and dumping it on the ground.

The red headed man stared at it shocked. Shaking, he dropped down to his knees. "No, no," he whispered as he picked up half of the tray. The floor was a mess with what was supposed to be Jester's dinner.

"It's okay. I really wasn't that hungry."

But he didn't seem to hear her. "Ikithon's going to kill me. He told me to practice more. I should've practiced more. Why didn't I practice more?" He tried to clean up, but his shaking hands just made a bigger mess.

"Hey, hey!" Jester called out. The man startled backwards and dropped the tray. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

He was breathing hard, and even with the mask on, Jester could see the panic in his eyes. 

It was a panic attack. Jester's mom would have them sometimes when she had to leave the house. "It's okay, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. Can you breath with me?" He shook his head. "What helps you? Does counting help you?" He nodded. "Okay, One, two-"

"Three, five, eight." He took a breath but it was still shaky. "Thirteen, 21, 34, 55, 89." It was slow and he was skipping numbers, but he seemed to be calming down. Jester quietly parroted along with his numbers, but the order of them didn't make sense to her. "Nine hundred eighty seven, 1,597, 2,584. Thank you. You didn't have to help me."

"Panic attacks are scary. Why wouldn't I help you?" Jester asked.

He huffed out a sigh. "Because I'm one of the people holding you captive?"

Jester sat down. "Oh yeah. So do you know why I'm here? Cause I don't."

"The Archmage has his reasons and it's not my place to question them." Now that his hands weren't shaking, he was doing a better job at cleaning up the mess.

Jester leaned forward. "So who's Ikithon?"

The man went deathly pale. "What? How do you know that name?"

"You said it earlier. You said Ikithon was going to kill you for not practicing," Jester said.

He got up stiffly and threw away the mess he cleaned up. "Forget you heard that name. Just forget it."

"Why?"

"Because, if you forget it, you have a better chance of leaving here alive." It should've been a threat, but it he sounded too scared. More like it was a truth he dreaded. He left the room abruptly without a word.

Jester sighed. She didn't even get to ask what his name was. He definitely wasn't the sort of person she'd expected to find in a villain's lair. If Jester had to choose the perfect place for him, she'd probably choose the library. Quiet and books were probably more his speed.

The sound of returning footsteps echoed down the hall and the man entered the room. He carried a small paper bag in one hand and a thermos in the other. "Here, you can have this." Switching his thermos over so he was awkwardly holding both it and the bag in one hand, he pressed his free hand to the glass and opened a hole in it. This time he shoved in the bag and thermos quickly.

Jester just barely caught them both in time. "Thanks, but this your lunch, isn't it?"

"I don't eat much." And given how skinny he was, that was probably true. He sunk down to the ground. Using his powers so much must've drained him.

Jester examined the bag. On the outside, it said Caleb. "Is this your name?"

"It's a fake one," he said dismissively.

Inside the bag, there was a squished tuna fish sandwich, a baggy of carrots, and a little tub of what looked like pie topping. There was also a napkin that had a note written on it. 'Caleb - Have a good day at work - <3 Nott'. Jester smiled at it. "That's sweet." She held up the note so Caleb could see it.

His face turned red. "She doesn't know what I do. And I want to keep it that way."

Jester took a bite of sandwich. "She must care about you a lot. Is she your girlfriend?"

"What?!" Caleb managed to turn redder and sputtered. "No! It's nothing like that at all. She's just a very dear friend."

"That's good."

Caleb gave her a strange look. "Why? I'm a terrible villain. One that is part of your imprisonment, in case you've forgotten."

"Yeah, but everyone needs somebody who cares for them. That's what I think at least." Jester took a sip from the thermos and discovered that it was full of tea.

"You are incredibly strange," he said flatly.

She gave him a grin. "I'm Jester!"

Caleb blinked at that. "Good to know."

"Now we're friends!"

"Friends? We can't be friends. I'm your captor," he said.

Jester sighed. "Maybe, but it's going to be super lonely here without a friend and you'd be a good one. I can tell."

"Really?" Caleb sounded like he didn't know how to take that.

"Really." Jester finished her sandwich and started crunching the carrots. "You've got a gentle heart."

A sad lost look crossed Caleb's face. "That's not a good trait for a super villain."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be one," Jester said.

"I don't have a say in that matter."

Jester popped another carrot in her mouth and closed the bag saving half the carrots for Caleb. She set the carrots on top of the container of pie topping, and cleaned up the mess from the tray using the paper bag. "You need these back right?"

"Ja, but aren't you going to have the streusel?" Caleb asked.

Jester shook her head. "Nah. It's your favorite right?"

He stared at her dumbfounded. "How did you know?"

"It's a tub of just dessert topping. No one just eats the topping unless it's a favorite," Jester said. "I'm ready if you are." She held up the tray with remains of Caleb's lunch balanced precariously on it.

Caleb shook his head apparently clearing his head. "Ja." He placed his hand on the glass and Jester passed him the tray quickly through the hole. Their hands brushed and Caleb nearly dropped the tray.

"Are you okay?" Jester asked.

He nodded, but Caleb leaned against the wall of the cell. "Ja, I'm fine." But Caleb didn't look fine at all. Instead he looked exhausted and a little sick.

Jester frowned at this. "It doesn't look like it."

"It's fine. I just need to go practice more. That's all," Caleb said, but Jester didn't believe him. Whenever she overextended her powers, the only thing she had energy for was going straight to bed.

"You really should go to sleep. I bet if you weren't wearing a mask you'd have major eye bags."

Caleb just sighed and shook his head. "Don't misplace your sympathy, Jester. You're just going to hurt yourself." And with that he left.

Jester watched as he nearly tripped over his own two feet, but he managed to correct himself before he could fall. For a super villain's henchman, Caleb wasn't much. But for a friend, Jester thought Caleb had a lot of potential.

**Author's Note:**

> I have to admit if I wrote this as a full length multi-chapter fic I don't know if they'd end up together romantically, but I tagged this widoject just in case.


End file.
